One of the most neglected areas of the body, in terms of personal hygiene, is the surfaces between the toes of a person's feet. Because of the inconvenience of reaching them while showering or bathing, many people fail to properly cleanse the inter-toe surfaces, thus resulting in numerous fungal diseases, as well as discomfort, to the feet.
Many people find it difficult to effectively clean their inter-toe surfaces while taking a shower or bath. To wash one's inter-toe surfaces properly in a shower, it is necessary to stand on one foot and can be quite dangerous. It is possible to end up slipping and falling as a result of trying to so clean inter-toe surfaces. Most persons would prefer to deal with fungal infection than tolerate that risk. There has been a long recognized need for a device that can easily and comfortably clean the surfaces between a user's toes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,078 describes a shower foot washer. The device is a suction cup attached platform supporting an open ended box. Towards the open ended side of the box are a number of dividers or partitions with bristled leading edges. These leading edges are separated in a way that allows a user to scrub between their toes while in a shower. The device is without benefit outside of a shower. A stream of water and soap from outside the box must be delivered to the user's toes to provide washing facilitated by the bristled leading edges. Outside of a showering water stream from above that then drains from the bristles, the device provides little cleansing action.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,525 describes what amounts to a bathtub version of the '078 patent. A box is divided in two to receive a user's feet, each divided section further divided with bristled partitions for scrubbing between a user's toes. The device is quite large and, in contrast to its intended purpose, difficult to clean or sanitize. The prior art devices for scrubbing between a user's toes appear to have met with very limited commercial interest because of their size and difficulty in cleaning and storing. There is a need for a device that overcomes these aspects of prior art devices.